GOP insiders: Second look at Marco Rubio?

posted at 4:01 pm on February 3, 2014 by Allahpundit

Process of elimination for center-right Republicans. If Christie’s too damaged by Bridgegate and Jeb Bush is too damaged by his brother’s legacy, who becomes their champion in the primaries? They’d prefer a guy who’s hawkish, who’s socially conservative enough to please evangelicals, but who’s “reasonable” enough to help business interests with things like amnesty. If he’s young, Latino, and telegenic, so much the better.

I know just the man.

A group of Republican fundraising heavyweights and wise men in Washington’s business community are solidly behind Rubio, and see him not only as someone who could win the White House, but someone they can work with…

Political strategists think Rubio’s chances of winning the GOP nomination in 2016 are looking better because of the bridge scandal embroiling New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) decision to forego a White House bid to aim for the gavel of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee…

But first, Rubio would face the difficult choice of whether to opt for a presidential run when it could cost him his Senate seat.

Florida law does not allow Rubio to run simultaneously for the Senate and the White House in 2016, when his seat in the Senate is up.

Florida’s gone twice for Obama and 2016 is, of course, a presidential election year, so Rubio may figure that if he doesn’t run for president, he’s apt to lose his Senate seat anyway. Democrats will go all out to beat him and tea partiers disaffected by his immigration stance won’t be there in the same numbers as they were in 2010. On the other hand, as a potential nominee, my sense is that Rubio’s more acceptable to grassroots righties than Christie and even marginally more acceptable than Bush. He may have disappointed the base but he doesn’t seem to disdain them. Besides, all three are bad on amnesty but Rubio’s reliably conservative on most other issues, and if he’s serious about running, he’ll spend the next 18 months sounding hawkish on immigration to get right with the right. If you dislike him because he’s too hawkish, there’s no obvious reason why you’d like Christie or Bush more. Although, if Jeb grows more interested in running, an obvious way for him to distinguish himself from Dubya would be to take a conspicuously pro-diplomacy, anti-NSA line a la Rand Paul. Doesn’t really matter for Rubio’s purposes, though: Given that they draw from similar donor and operative pools, if Jeb runs, Rubio almost certainly won’t.

If Rubio runs, though, where does he win? Assuming Paul, Scott Walker, and either Huckabee or Santorum (or both?) are in the field, winning Iowa will be difficult, even for the undisputed centrist champ. He’s a better fit for New Hampshire, but Rubio wouldn’t have much of an “angle” to attract voters there the way the last few winners have. McCain was the maverick and Romney was the neighbor; the guy with the angle next time is Paul, the libertarian. Doesn’t mean a centrist can’t win, but can he win as the third-stringer after Christie flamed out and Jeb passed on the race? What’s the argument for Rubio over, say, Walker?

Exit question: Related to all this, does Christie’s CPAC speech matter? I’m 99 percent sure it doesn’t because speeches never matter, but if there’s a sharp negative or positive reaction from the audience, maybe a few minds will be changed about his viability among donors or campaign operatives. If he goes out there and hammers the mainstream media for being out to get him and the crowd cheers, could be that establishment types will treat it as a sign that he can pander his way to acceptability among tea partiers. If he goes out there and gets booed (which is unlikely, as I don’t think it’s ever happened to a major speaker at CPAC), maybe they decide they’re pumping a dry well and start to look around for alternatives.

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So pointing out that someone comes across as unlikeable is bashing the base now. I’m sorry Cruz reminds me of the brown-noser in school who reminded the teacher to give the class homework and snitched on you when you were chewing gum.
Illinidiva on February 3, 2014 at 4:38 PM

This coming from you, someone who is admittedly head over heels in love with Paul Ryan, the epitome of the brown-noser type?

No, Cruz comes across as someone serious and with conviction. He is a formidable debater and a dynamic speaker.

We really need to lose this stupid tautology. Either one is a conservative, or he isn’t.

In the same way that one either is a liberal or progressive, or he is not.

If the left ever even used terms, wonder which would be the “true liberal” or the “true progressive”: 1) the one who one is fiscally conservative and pro-U.S. interests on foreign policy, but supports abortion, gay marriage, and legalization of all recreational drugs and illegal immigrants; or, 2) the one who is socially conservative but believes the federal government should run healthcare, the auto industry, the banks and financial sector, and pretty much the whole economy; or 3) the one who is down-the-line left domestically, internationally, socially, and economically? They simply don’t make, or need to make, those distinctions. They know who they are.

Actually, the former sounds pretty much like an establishment Republican. Those we used to call “moderates” or “centrists.” But don’t confuse them with “conservatives.”

The point is that we are pointing out flaws in candidates and you and terryannonline are point out flaws in us. It’s a long way from 2016 and I just don’t understand why anyone wants to fight their “allies” for three years. Especially since no one will know what will happen between now than then.

I need a score card! I can’t seem to figure out who is a “true conservative”, the “base”, the “establishment”, and “squish” or a “RINO”. There have been some on here that claim, or make claims, to represent that they know exactly who fits in what column.

I do find that many times that those hold the mantle of “true conservatism” are as far from that as I could possibly imagine.

Marco let down a lot of people by campaigning one way and then quickly folding. Lying doesn’t engender trust. He has backtracked now but who knows if it is real or not? While I won’t rule a senator out, I think our governor bench is very deep.

So pointing out that someone comes across as unlikeable is bashing the base now. I’m sorry Cruz reminds me of the brown-noser in school who reminded the teacher to give the class homework and snitched on you when you were chewing gum.

Illinidiva on February 3, 2014 at 4:38 PM

I’ll repeat to you what I’ve said elsewhere in the thread – at least part of the reason we’re struggling so much electorally is because Republicans like you are trying to “pre-select” which candidates are “permitted” to run in the primaries, largely due to a desire to prevent conservative candidates from running and winning.

Most Americans oppose illegal alien amnesty. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is a strong desire out there among voters for amnesty or that immigration law enforcement is merely a concern of the conservative “base.”

That’s why pro-amnesty supporters have to lie to voters, hide their true intentions and pay for ads like this:

I don’t know anyone who calls themselves “true conservatives” it seems mostly to be used as an insult here. None of us agree on every subject, and it might be nice to just hide and watch so that we can come together around someone when we get closer to the actual election.

This coming from you, someone who is admittedly head over heels in love with Paul Ryan, the epitome of the brown-noser type?

Ryan is a very earnest dork. Anyone who is obsessed over the federal budget is so adorable.

Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio seem like brown-nosers to me.

Rubio is definitely not a brown-noser. I think that he is still a bit immature, but he is pretty hip for a Republican politician.

No, Cruz comes across as someone serious and with conviction. He is a formidable debater and a dynamic speaker.

Cruz reminds me of Obama. It is a Harvard Law thing. He has the same unlikeable personality. And since Cruz isn’t the first serious black candidate for President, those personality traits aren’t going to get covered up.

I don’t know anyone who calls themselves “true conservatives” it seems mostly to be used as an insult here. None of us agree on every subject, and it might be nice to just hide and watch so that we can come together around someone when we get closer to the actual election.

Cindy Munford on February 3, 2014 at 4:55 PM

Good sentiment, before we start with the knives and pitchforks let’s remember anybody will be better than 4 more years of Hillary.

The fact is that people who vote based on immigration are a very small percentage.

terryannonline on February 3, 2014 at 4:51 PM

See this may have been the case in the past. It wasn’t until recently that Conservatives realized that Obamnesty meant that 75% of the 50 MILLION (the 11 Million figure is a complete lie), would be nothing but big-government, DimocRat voters.

It was when I realized this, that I BECAME a single-issue voter.

Why is it so difficult for the GOPe to see what Conservatives knew months ago?

The fact is that people who vote based on immigration are a very small percentage.

terryannonline on February 3, 2014 at 4:51 PM

It’s not just immigration. It’s the endless wave of tax increases, spending increases, caves on the debt ceiling, support of gun control, the shutdown, the promises to “fix” Obamacare, the attacks on the base in the press. Rubio, Jeb, and Christie have all thrown in their lot with this faction, while failing to deliver anything of note to the larger party base.

I’m happy to vote for a Walker (I don’t like his position on amnesty, but as his governorship showed, he can be trusted to fight for us at least some of the time), or a Rand Paul, or a Ted Cruz. But I’m not voting for someone who openly aligns themselves with the leadership faction of the GOP.

I’m done voting for the McCains, the Doles, and the Romneys, who are so distant from us ideologically they might as well be Democrats.

I am sorry, I didn’t know that you were the arbiter of who is and isn’t likable. And you put it so nicely, ” I was going to mention the fact that he was an incredibly smarmy know-it-all with the same personality defects as Obama.”. I’ll point out that Obama won. Twice.

It might be something that is a deal breaker for me. First he lied and now he wants to condone lawlessness and put undo strains on an already failing system. A neighbor brought her mother to the U.S. legally and her mother became a citizen. That’s great but without working a single quarter in the U.S., she got Social Security. How’s that going to work?

I’d like to address this notion that keeps being so oft repeated that the United States is ‘a nation of immigrants’.

87% of Americans, according to the US Census Bureau, were born in this nation. About 13% of those in the United States legally are foreign born.

The citizens of this nation has as much a natural right to national pride and ownership as the citizens of any other nation.

I mention this in connection not only with the immigration issue, but in connection to the response we’re seeing to many, including many in the media, about the response on twitter by many to that Coca-cola ad during the Super Bowl where people from all over the world sang “America the Beautiful” in various languages. I’ve seen many in the media paint those responses very broadly as racism. A few have used the term ‘nationalist’ as a derogatory term ,and a few have used the term ‘zenophobes’ to describe those who posted those responses.

While there were undoubtedly a few people who’s comment was based on a sense of racism, and a few who may have been expressing some degree of zenophobia, the majority of those posts were people offended because they feel a deep and abiding love for their nation and resent anyone suggesting that the rest of the world has any sort of ownership of their nation.

This is understandable. I don’t think any nation’s citizens would warm to the idea that all the people of the world have an ownership in, or right to, their nation, their culture, or their traditions.

Look at the way those from other cultures who do come to this nation vociferously defend their traditions and grow defiant over the suggestion they should relinquish them. Yet American citizens are routinely asked to absorb all and sundry cultures, and recently, even to sacrifice their own language in favor of those who choose to come to this nation. Press 1 for English.

And the picture of incompetence. I’m not promoting Sen. Cruz, or any senator but just as Rubio’s support of immigration is a valid point not to support him, I think Sen. Cruz deserves more than smarmy and unlikeable on his detraction list. Oh and true conservatives suck.

I really have nothing against those guys really. I don’t like Rand Paul’s on foreign policy. I just prefer Rubio to those guys.

terryannonline on February 3, 2014 at 5:03 PM

I don’t really like Paul’s foreign policy either, but given that he’s likely a libertarian at heart, I feel reasonably confident he might be able to start fixing the fiscal mess the government has gotten itself in.

Amigos – comrades – muchachos – friends, we are gathered here as an edifice of the great glory that is now vanishing before our very eyes and the intuitive feeling, based on the assumption as Mencken once proclaimed, “He who underestimates the American public will never go broke.” This is merely a small indication to behold and to perceive that which has gone way into the behind and to that which might project .. I mean go forward … out of the mouth … i mean .. the future…we’ve got to rip up the constitution so we can rip down those outdated and inconvenient borders! This is the main detergent … I mean main deterrent … upon which we have gathered our strength and to all the others who say, “What the hell did that get?” – We don’t yet know.

Clearly today we must all be gravely aware that political expediency, latino ethnicity and the Chamber of Commerce’s need for serf labor take precedence over rule of law and constitutional procedure. However you say – WTF ! – what the Hell does this mean… in relation to the tabulation whereby we must finally realize that the great reconquesta story is now being rehearsed before our very eyes, in the rise of Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan… indicating that only two-faced … I mean fork-faced … I mean bi-faced … I mean bi-polar … I mean a bi-lingual hombre and his faithful amigo can receive…the award for reconquesta, unlike Kenyan Hussein Obama whose reconquesta plans don’t drink water.

And as Miller once said in one of his great novels- what did he … that language is only necessary when bilingual communication is endangered. And you sit there bewildered, and Pinter who went further said “It is not the lack of communication, but fear of communication.” That’s what the damn thing is that we fear – communication – especially all the Spanish communication that’s even on a box of Wheaties now. Damn it! And through all this John McCain has attained, and has created for himsself serenity, and it is only his senility that is keeping him alive in his insanity.

Moving right along in my brief remarks … … Senors y Senoritas, Ladies and Gentlemen, Peeps and Peepettes, Rulers and Ruled, the time will soon come when a first world America will outlive its usefulness. Marx, either Groucho or Karl, I can’t remember which, maybe it was both or maybe it was Harpo, once said that America is the opiate of the people. I say that when America outlives its usefulness and becomes a majority Mexican nation , then opium…will be the opiate…Ahh that’s not a bad idea… we are going to need that badly especially when all the booze runs out …

And the completely and totally unbiased and bi-partisan panel, has determined to give the grand prize to Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan for their EARNESTY’S RAINBOW. Now EARNESTY’S RAINBOW is a token of these men’s genius…they told me so themselves and repeatedly … that they could change perceptions by calling their plan for knocking down those pesky borders EARNESTY …in other words, they could have been a little more specific, but rather than allude to an articulation of the mundane, they have come to the conclusion that brevity is the importance of our nation’s shallow and selfish first world existence. God damn!

Marco Rubio’s and Paul Ryan’s. EARNESTY’S RAINBOW – is a small contribution to a certain degree, since there are over seven billion people in the world today. 315 of them … million live in the United States which is a very, very small amount compared to those who will be miserable and enslaved and dying elsewhere…Well, I say that you will be on the road to new horizons, for we who live in a society where citizenship is a commodity and a politician can become a TV personality and very wealthy, it’s not easy to conform if you have any morality at all…I, I, I said that myself many years ago…

But I do want to thank la Raza…I mean the DNC … I mean the Chamber of Commerce … I mean the RNC … I mean la Raza and the DNC and the Chamber of Commerce and their wholly bought and paid for subsidiary the RNC, the organization for the $500 in affirmative action latino scholarships they’ve given out…today they took in over $5,000,000, but they do have expenses for their brilliant consultants you know, and I think that I have another appointment. I certainly hope so. I would like to stay here, but for the sake of brevity I, I must leave. I do want to thank you, and I want to thank the founding fathers for all the sacrifices they made however much they were in vain but now, most of all, and looking into the failure … I mean the future .. I want to thank Marco Rubio – acting el Presidenta of Juarez la Raza Mexiamerica and Paul Ryan – acting First Lady of Juarez la Raza Mexiamerica and also Mr. Obama – acting Pharaoh and Peeping Tom … I mean Spy Master and Drone Commander of the World – and also I want to thank Professor Irwin Corey and again, thank you. …

It sure wouldn’t hurt for us to follow the laws we have now. We have quotas for positions that need to be filled, not an open Southern border for people even less educated that the products of our own crappy educational system. Yes, the vast majority of them are willing to work and work hard but so are the others who do it legally.

It’s a shame and a great irony that the LEFT, and others equally ill informed, have used that term improperly so often and tried t wield it as a weapon to silence those with whom they disagree that it’s lost its original meaning and impact, and now, for people like you and me, Cindy, has become a battle scar, and should be worn as a badge of honor.

It sure wouldn’t hurt for us to follow the laws we have now. We have quotas for positions that need to be filled, not an open Southern border for people even less educated that the products of our own crappy educational system. Yes, the vast majority of them are willing to work and work hard but so are the others who do it legally.

Since approximately 1830, somebody or another has wanted to immigrate to America. My great great grandfather came over in the 1880’s as part of the legal quotas this country has used for coming on 200 years now.

It’s only in the last 30+ years, one political party has done everything in their power to SUPPORT the breaking of the immigration laws – purely as a means to MORE political power.

In a just world, these people would be indicted under the R.I.C.O. Act, stripped of their conspiracy related assets and sent to a Federal prison for their multi-decade conspiracy.

Go ahead sit out “true conservatives.” No one will ever please you anyways.

terryannonline on February 3, 2014 at 4:18 PM

What exactly is this “true conservative” you speak of, because I don’t think I’d fit the mold. That doesn’t mean Rubio isn’t on my definite “NO” list.
Supporting any candidate who has already proven he’s completely capable of doing the exact opposite of what he said he would do, doesn’t exactly make me feel confident in any future campaign pronouncements.
The position taken on any issue during a campaign is the position I expect to be taken if elected to office.
Rubio isn’t trustworthy…it’s that simple.

Yes, dear, it was but only to try to get you to realize what the blanket granting of amnesty to millions of people would do to our system. Come on, your a smart girl, making new laws to ignore like the old laws that are ignored is the very definition of insanity.

I’d like to address this notion that keeps being so oft repeated that the United States is ‘a nation of immigrants’.

87% of Americans, according to the US Census Bureau, were born in this nation. About 13% of those in the United States legally are foreign born.

thatsafactjack on February 3, 2014 at 5:03 PM

This truth, that it is a big lie that we are a nation of immigrants, can not be repeated too many times.

I’m not an immigrant and most other Americans are not immigrants either. If you were born in America, you are not an immigrant. Some, even all, of your ancestors may have been immigrants, and if you go back far enough that would even apply to American Indians, but a person is not their ansterors, not any of them.

As to why so many Establishment/Chamber of Commerce Republicans support amnesty/rewards for invaders, as they say, follow the money.

.
No, it needs to be put on those who are the TRUE racists who are breaking the law in order to maintain a sub-class of citizens.

poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race

The Democratic Party is demonstrably the most racist party in American politics. From their links to the Ku Klux Klan (Senator Robert Byrd ring any bells?) to Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society which destroyed millions of African-American families to the constantly divisive political behavior of Barack Obama, no other party has such a despicable record of treating every race but Caucasians as being LESS able to succeed.

The Progressives in the Democratic Party (~95%+ of the total) are so committed to their racist attitudes, they constantly preach that it is virtually impossible for non-whites to succeed in our society regardless of the many representatives of ALL races that give proof to their LIE.

The latest proof of Democratic infamy is their unlimited committment to “immigration reform” in order to lure millions of additional Latinos outside of America to enter the country and refresh the ranks of the “illegal immigrants” who will be paid substandard wages and denied the protections provided to legal immigrants.

If Democrats were truly committed to equal treatment regardless of race, color or creed; their FIRST priority would be securing the borders of the country BEFORE establishing a path to legal status for the millions of exploited illegal workers already in this country.

The Democrats know full well that their deceptive approach will only incentivize millions of additional illegal immigrants to make reckless efforts to enter the United States illegally while our borders are STILL not secured.

This “Next Wave of Illegals” will successfully compete for low paying jobs while waiting for the next cynical effort by “Progressive” politicians to realize their latest willful lack of enforcement of immigration laws has once again swelled the numbers of disadvantaged workers in our country.

The Democrats will ALWAYS say the most sympathetic lies to win the votes of these poor people trying to live the American Dream of building a better life for their families. Meanwhile, the “Next Wave” will insure those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder will ALWAYS be competing against someone willing to accept less pay and benefits because they have escaped from countries where the most menial wage paid in America would be an unachievable dream.

It is time for Republicans to DEMAND America’s borders be secured for the economic and physical security of ALL of its residents.

At the same time, the Republicans must establish a reasonable schedule working with the front line Immigration personnel and their unions for the implementation of a process of review of the millions of people who have improperly entered the United States and the deportation of those among this group who are criminals in their home countries or who have engaged in criminal enterprises in this country.

If there is one irrefutable fact learned from the history of this country of immigrants, it is that criminal organizations within immigrant populations primarily prey upon their fellow immigrants.

When we have secured our borders and demonstrably deported the criminals among the immigrant populations, we will then be able to integrate the remaining illegal immigrants fully into our economy and culture.

Those who push for amnesty assume that those of us opposed to amnesty are also opposed to reforming immigration law. This assumption is erroneous.

Many of us would like to reform immigration law. We’d like mandatory nationwide E-verify implemented and for it to be enforces vigorously and consistently, with severe penalties for cheats and noncompliance.

We’d like to end automatic citizenship for the children of foreign nations and require that one parent be a citizen or legal immigrant for any child to be granted automatic citizenship at birth.

We’d like to severely curtail chain immigration and restrict those who could be sponsored to only spouses and legitimate children.

We’d like strong, vigorous and effective enforcement of immigration law in all states and cities with severe penalties, including the cessation of federal funding for those states and cities who fail to comply with the law.

We’d like biometric identification, retinal scans, for visa holders and strict policing of those visas including tracking holders, and making sure the holder leaves this nation immediately upon expiration.

We’d like to see legal immigration cut to 500,000 per year admitted to this nation until unemployment in the United States has been consistently below 5% for a period of one year.

Go to FAIR ( Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform) you’ll find the site very informative.

No no no on Rubio. I don’t rule him out primarily because he pushed a bill I did not support. It was the fact that he lied about nearly every provision of said bill (back taxes, background checks, pay back taxes, have to learn English, etc).

It’s a shame and a great irony that the LEFT, and others equally ill informed, have used that term improperly so often and tried t wield it as a weapon to silence those with whom they disagree that it’s lost its original meaning and impact, and now, for people like you and me, Cindy, has become a battle scar, and should be worn as a badge of honor.

thatsafactjack on February 3, 2014 at 5:31 PM

Apparently you missed the ‘for people like you and me’. Context of usage is everything.

thatsafactjack on February 3, 2014 at 5:43 PM

.
I don’t think so.

The Left (and some within the GOPe) uses the term “racist” as a trump card that precludes discussion.

That, for me, is intolerable.

Racists are the people in New Jersey who threatened my oldest brother for having an African-American friend and who threatened our family because we would have him over to our house for dinner.

Racists are the people who threatened my second oldest brother for being friends with African Americans in Little Rock High School.

Racists are the people who I watched using fire hoses and police dogs against non-violent protesters on the evening news.

Racists are still very common – especially outside the United States – and are still haitng someone because of the color of their skin or ethnic heritage or religion.

Racism is STILL a powerful word for a despicable problem and I WILL NOT ACCEPT its debasement by people who themselves are promoting America’s modern day racism – whether they have the wit to know it or not.